Saturday January 18th at 3 p.m., the exhibition Far will open at Hafnarborg’s Sverrissalur, featuring works by Þórdís Jóhannesdóttir (b. 1979) and Ralph Hannam (1915-2011), in dialogue with each other.
Þórdís and Ralph came to photography by unconventional routes. She is an artist, using photography as her medium of choice, without focusing specifically on its technological aspects. The comfort of digital methods enables her to manipulate the images in post-production, in ways that once demanded a certain manual skill set and technical knowledge. Ralph was an amateur photographer and judging by the work he left behind, it is evident that he used photography as a means of artistic expression. They are both situated outside the realm of conventional professional photography and are for that reason free from its constraints.
When preparing for this exhibition, Þórdís looked through her archive and chose photographs to pair with Ralph’s. The similarities are remarkable, as neither one of them sets up the images, rather searching for moments to capture with the camera. A sensitive eye, chance and luck control the outcome. Cropping is also important in their work, thus narrowing the point of view and eliminating all excess.
The meeting between these two artists takes place without conflict. The interplay between their work is both persuasive and uninhibited. Form itself is their motif. Light, composition and balance are of greater importance than the subject matter itself. The visual dialogue that takes place at the exhibition originates in the surrounding environment – everyday life – reminding us that beauty may be seen in surprising places.
The exhibition is made possible through collaboration with The National Museum of Iceland and is a part of The Icelandic Photo Festival.
